given the current state of industrial farming, an increasing monopolized food distribution system, the global food marketplace, and issues of transportation, pollution, food safety, and health epidemics, thousands of groups around the world are engaged in the debate of how to resist - or re-subsist. this is a catalogue of the most interesting, inventive, and relevant people, groups, projects, and organizations currently engaging in rethinking the relationship between farms, cities, and food.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Portable Farms

Portable Farms is a business that has a designed aquaponic system for sale to the public. Colle Davis invented the aquaponic system after studying at UC Davis, and has spent the last 37 years perfecting the design, with the goal of fully automating the process to allow for universal usage. Portable Farms claims that a unit of theirs (patent pending) measuring only 6’x 8’ can produce 400 vegetables and 100 pounds of fish, all while using an estimated 90 percent less water than a traditional arrangement. Colle Davis’s own farm uses three of his company’s units, one 6’ x 8’, one 10’ x 20’ and one 20’ x 30’, meaning on two acres, he is able to produce 4800 vegetables and 1900 pounds of fish in a year.

In addition to the three previously mentioned sizes, Portable Farms also sells a 90’ x 120’ unit, for larger institutional applications. Portable Farms is marketing these units to large institutions like prisons and schools, where footprint might be an issue, as well as to individuals and families, where time and ease of maintenance might be an issue. The modularity and exportability of Portable Farms suggests that the company may have more success as locavorism catches on.